


Rule 14

by januarylily



Category: Criminal Minds, NCIS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2018-11-19 09:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11310945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/januarylily/pseuds/januarylily
Summary: • Bend the line, don't break it. • Jethro's daughter, Emma is about to graduate from college and follow in her father's footsteps at NCIS. But during her time as an intern, NCIS must join forces with the FBI's BAU on a case and Emma finds herself falling for Dr. Spencer Reid.





	1. Lectures

A young, petite, brunette woman slid into a seat in the middle of the lecture hall. The middle was always the best place to sit. If you sat in the front, you felt morally obligated to answer questions and if you sat in the back, you gave the impression that you really didn't care. The middle meant you could leave the question answering to those in the front, but you still gave the impression that you cared. The middle was perfect...well, it was when all the good seats in the front and back were taken. Emma tried to make the best of every situation, but that was obviously easier said than done.

At 22, Emma was finishing up her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from George Washington University. She was also interning at NCIS, where she knew she wanted to work someday. But there never seemed to be a dull moment in her life. Life seemed to be: go, go, go, go. Her boss didn't make things any easier for her. In fact, he did just the opposite. He made things a little harder for her and expected more out of her. She would be glad when she was finally done with school, maybe then she might actually catch a small break.

Emma pulled a pen from her Jansport backpack, set her cup of coffee down, and began flipping through the handout she was given as she walked through the door. The last presenter they had turned out to be a complete joke. How the university would recommend him, was beyond her. But then again, most people hadn't been living and breathing crime scenes for most of the lives either. Sometimes, she could help but feel she had more crime scene experience than most of the people that came in to teach them.

After briefly skimming the packet, she found that their presenters were from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI Emma had heard of the BAU, before, but she had yet to cross paths with them. She knew that they were the F.B.I.'s best of the best, but not all the best ended up at the FBI Usually, but not always. Emma looked to see whom they had sent, but whomever it was they were likely waiting in the wing to be introduced.

"Take a seat! Take a seat!" Professor Ash shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth, to make his already booming voice louder. "It's time for everyone to take a seat." The slightly graying, overweight professor stood at the front of the lecture hall pointing to his watch as people who stood near the walls scrambled to find empty seats.

"Already seated," Emma thought as she took a sip of her coffee. Professor Ash couldn't yell at her for that. But that wouldn't stop him from finding something to criticize her about.

Once the room was silent, the professor spoke again, "Good morning and thank you to those of you actually bothered to show this time. Let me remind you, that according to the syllabus you received at the beginning of the semester, this lecture is worth 25% of your grade. And for some of you, it's a graduation requirement. So, if you're feeling like doing your good deed for the day and you see someone who isn't here, who should be here, then I'd pull those cell phones out and text them to drag their lazy butts out of bed."

Most of the class chuckled at his remark. A few people even pulled out their cellphones. Emma just sipped her coffee, waiting. After nearly a minute, which seemed like an eternity, Professor Ash said, "Now, without further ado, let me introduce our guest speakers from the prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI, SSA Jason Gideon and Dr. Spencer Reid."

The lecture hall filled with applause as the two men made their way from through the door into the room. Emma glanced curiously at the men. One definitely looked old enough to be lecturing, but the other hardly looked older than most of the students in the room. How much could he know about the subject matter? What could he possibly teach her? For starters, he could probably teach her how not to dress, but for reasons beyond her understanding, Emma found her eyes focused on him.

The younger man stood there rather uncomfortably until the older man clapped his hands together, took a step forward, and addressed them. "Thank you. Thank you. As Professor Ash mentioned, I am SSA Jason Gideon with the BAU. The man standing next to me is Dr. Spencer Reid."

At the young man's introduction, half-a-dozen hands shot up into the air. Each one of them girls. Emma shook her head. Admittedly, she was curious...but not that curious. Dr. Reid glanced around the room somewhat nervously and gulped down the lump in his throat. Emma could tell that the guy was nervous. One didn't have to be a profiler to see that.

"Questions already?" Gideon chuckled as he patted Reid on the shoulder. Reid glanced at Gideon somewhat uncertainly as the hands remained in the air. Gideon shrugged a shoulder before he pointed at a girl in the front row. "Go ahead."

"How old is he?" the pretty blonde girl asked, twirling her hair in her fingers. Her attempts at flirtation were hardly subtle.

"Well, Dr. Reid…" Gideon began.

But Dr. Reid managed to find his bearings and interrupted him. "25. I'm 25," he stated, standing a little bit taller. It was obvious he was attempting to compensate his nervousness with his body posture, not that most of the people in the room could see that...but Emma could.

But his age only provoked more hands to fly into the air. But that didn't stop another girl from blurting out, "Isn't that a little young to be a doctor?"

Dr. Reid rolled his shoulders back before he nervously rattled-off, "Not necessarily. You see, I have three doctorates: one in mathematics, one in chemistry, and one in engineering."

Whispers erupted in the classroom. For a moment, Emma thought maybe, just maybe she had misjudged Dr. Reid. But just because he was smart didn't necessarily mean that he was better. Sometimes real world experiences meant more. Besides, not all intelligent people needed three doctorates to show it...or sometimes their father's wanted them to grow up as normally as possible. Emma took another sip of her coffee.

Dr. Ash was quick to quiet them, but once they were quiet, a guy from the second-row blurted out, "What are you, some sort of genius?"

Dr. Reid nodded his head back and forth for a moment, seemingly debating himself in his head for a moment before he rambled, "I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and I can read 20,000 words per minute."

"So, in other words, a genius?" the guy from the second row pressed again, which earned him a few chuckles from his classmates.

"Technically speaking," Dr. Reid said with a shrug as the class once again broke into whispers.

Emma sipped her coffee once again, watching Dr. Reid nervously wringing his hands. It was clear that he knew this wasn't going well and that he didn't want to be here. She didn't miss the reassuring look SSA Gideon gave him. There was certainly a bond of trust there.

"Settle down, people! Settle down!" Professor Ash shouted, calling the class to order once again.

When it was once again quiet, Dr. Reid shoved his hands in his pants pockets. Agent Gideon nodded for Reid to continue speaking. Dr. Reid cleared his throat, "As Gideon was saying, we work for the BAU, which stands for Behavioral Analysis Unit. It is our job to profile criminals and…"

Hedwig's Theme began to echo through the lecture hall, quieting Dr. Reid. He stood there with a puzzled look on his face as he glanced around the room. It took Emma a few moments to spot the culprit: it was herself. Her cheeks turned red as she dove for her backpack. She dug through the front pocket of her backpack and pulled her cell phone out to silent it. After she fumbled for a moment to hold onto her phone, she read the ID of who was calling her: DAD. If her father was calling her, it had to be important…

"Any time now, Miss Gibbs," Professor Ash said sternly, with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed at her.

Emma stood up and began to walk toward the exit. "Sir, if I can just have a minute...it's my father."

"I don't give a damn who your father is, Miss Gibbs. He could be the President of the United States and I still wouldn't care. If you exit this lecture hall, you fail my class."

Her brow furrowed in frustration. Sure, he would fail her for leaving for a few minutes, but he was fine with the stragglers coming in late. She knew that pointing out the double standard would only cause her more trouble. So, she declined the call and sank back into her chair. She caught Dr. Reid watching her curiously, but she refused to meet his gaze.

"Good choice," Professor Ash said. "But I still want to see you after the lecture."

Emma gave a curt nod of her head. She made sure that her phone was on silent before she shoved it back into her bag. To say Professor Ash wasn't one of her biggest fans would be a vast understatement. His dislike of her stemmed from some interaction with her father. So, the man took out his dislike for her father on her. Emma didn't particularly enjoy the fact, but she was sure it wouldn't be the only time she would be treated differently because of her parentage.

When she caught Dr. Reid's gaze still on her, she shielded her face with her hand and slid further down in her seat to hide her embarrassment. Agent Gideon must have noticed Reid's distraction because he began to speak, regaining the attention of those in the lecture hall. A few seconds later, Reid snapped back to reality and focused on what Gideon was saying, occasionally interjecting.

Dr. Reid eventually grew a little more comfortable in front of his audience. Although sometimes his references or his occasional joke went over most of his audience's head, Emma would crack him a smile or nod her head. Quite surprisingly, this guy actually knew what he was talking about. Well, both of them did, but Dr. Reid's knowledge of the field was quite extensive. It was especially impressive given that he wasn't much older than she was and he hadn't been going to crime scenes for most of his life. Emma could see why the FBI snatched him up.

After they finished the talking points on their PowerPoint slides, Agent Gideon led them in a question and answer session. Emma sat back and listened to a few questions and answers as she formulated one of her own. Eventually, she raised her hand and Agent Gideon nodded her direction and pointed at her. Emma gave a slight smile before she confidently asked, "Dr. Reid, I think we all agree that your credentials are quite impressive.." Dr. Reid gave a slightly bashful smile and nodded his head, acknowledging her. "Now, I was wondering, in your professional opinion…"

But Emma was never given the opportunity to actually ask her question. Professor Ash quickly shot her down. "Miss Gibbs now is not the time for your nonsense and mocking. We all remember the last time…" He looked at Emma rather pointedly, which caused her to groan. She was taught to question everything, but that wasn't what this was. She actually had a question for Dr. Reid, but before she could even attempt to argue with him Professor Ash addressed the class, "And it looks like we're out of time for today. I want your reflection papers by the next class period."

"If I could interrupt once more," Agent Gideon said. "If anyone has any questions about the BAU or profiling, there is a business card attached to the back of your handouts and before you ask, that isn't Dr. Reid's personal number." He stopped for a moment to chuckle as Dr. Reid anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. Gideon spoke once more. "Dr. Reid and I will stick around to answer any questions for those who don't have anywhere better to be. Thanks for your time."

The students began to clap and stood to their feet, not as a standing ovation, but because most of them had other classes to get to. Emma quickly packed her things into her backpack before she stood, holding an empty coffee cup in her hand. Professor Ash purposely made eye contact to remind her that they were supposed to meet. Emma found the whole thing ridiculous and very much like middle school, but she did need to pass this class in order to obtain her degree. So she headed toward her professor.

Just as Emma approached her professor, Agent Gideon's phone began to ring. Gideon glanced at his phone before he turned toward Dr. Reid. "Reid, I have to take this. I'll be right back." With that Gideon stepped out of the room leaving Reid to awkwardly watch the encounter with Emma and her professor.

Professor Ash stood tall compared to Emma with a menacing expression on his face. "Miss Gibbs, I'm not sure what stunt you were trying to pull, but it's entirely unacceptable."

"Professor Ash," Emma pleaded. "I swear to God that…"

He shook his head. "I should have known to expect this type of behavior from you. You are his daughter after all…"

Emma bit her tongue as her professor continued to rant. One couldn't speak rationally to irrational people. But sometimes she just wanted to let him have it. Dr. Reid made eye contact with her. Emma hoped that maybe he could read the uncomfortableness of the situation in her body language or the silent pleas from her eyes. It took him nearly a minute to decipher them, but he eventually took a step forward.

"Sorry to interrupt," Dr. Reid said to Professor Ash. "But Agent Gideon and I are going to have to head out soon and I believe I didn't get a chance to answer her question. I would like to do so before I leave."

Emma tried not to smile as Professor Ash looked at Dr. Reid rather incredulously. The professor was visibly flustered. He looked at Emma and huffed, "You pull another stunt like this, consider your grade docked." With that he quickly walked away, muttering to himself.

After a sigh of relief, Emma looked up at Dr. Reid with a smile. "For being a world-class profiler, that took you awhile," she said, teasing him a bit.

His brow furrowed for a moment but he quickly caught onto her teasing. Although, he still felt the need to explain himself. "The subtle save me thing in social situations isn't my forte."

"You don't say?" she teased again. With another smile, she stuck out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Emma Gibbs and thank you for saving me."

Dr. Reid shook her hand. "I'm Spencer R-" He paused for a moment. "You already know that. I-uh-" He released her hand and put it in his pocket before glancing over his shoulder to where Professor Ash had exited. "Is he normally like that?"

"I suppose it doesn't take a profiler to know that he has it out for me. Just with me," Emma sighed, as she unzipped the front pocket of her backpack to reach for her phone.

His brow furrowed again. "Really? Why's that?"

Emma chuckled to herself and shook her head as she pulled her phone out of her bag. "Long story, which involves my father," she grunted before she flipped her phone open. She had a text message from Tony telling her to get her ass to NCIS now or Gibbs was gonna have her head. She shook her head before looking back at Dr. Reid. "Speaking of my father, I have to go." Emma gave her phone a little shake before she slipped it into her pants pocket. "Thanks again, Dr. Reid. For saving me...and for the presentation. I really enjoyed it."

She quickly turned on her heel to head for the exit, when Dr. Reid called out, 'What about your question?"

Emma stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. She did want his opinion on the question, but the last thing anyone ever wanted to do was piss off Leroy Jethro Gibbs. She smiled. "Your number is on the business card, right?"

He opened his mouth to dispute her, but he shut his mouth when he saw the smirk on her face. With that, Emma Gibbs walked away leaving Spencer Reid standing there watching her leave. He hadn't realized that he was watching her until Gideon came up to him, patted his shoulder in a fatherly way, and grinned. "Who's the pretty girl?" Gideon asked.

"Emma Gibbs," Reid said nonchalantly.

Gideon's brow furrowed for a moment. "Any relation to…"

Reid shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know. She never said."

The older man nodded his head knowingly. "Well, that was Hotch that called. He wants us back for a briefing."

Reid nodded his head and followed Gideon out of the building to the car, but he was distracted and the reason for his distraction: Emma Gibbs. There was something about her that he couldn't shake and he hoped that he would meet her again. If only he knew how soon their next meeting would actually be…


	2. Mole Models

With a coffee cup in hand, Emma carefully ran from the parking lot to the NCIS building. She fished her ID badge out of her pants pocket and clipped it to her shirt. Once her hand was free, she pulled her cell phone from the other pocket because it kept vibrating. Tony was obnoxiously sending her blank text after blank text, no doubt to get her attention….or annoy her. Emma chose to believe the latter.

As she approached the door with her hands full, she quickly tried to shove her phone back in her pocket only for someone to ram into her. Her coffee cup splattered to the ground, splashing coffee all over khaki pants. "Are you shitting me?" Emma groaned. She rolled her eyes as the man who ran into her just kept walking. Clearly, the man hadn't a clue whose daughter she was, otherwise he would likely be fearing for his life right about now. Thankfully, if there was one thing her father had taught her it was that she was always to be prepared. She had the pair of jeans she had worn to class earlier. Those would have to do and she hoped neither Tony nor her father would give her any grief about it.

After passing through security and quickly changing her pants in the first bathroom she could find, Emman made her way to the elevator. She rode up with NCIS Director Jenny Shepard. The madam director glanced at Emma and smiled. "Good morning, Emma," she said lightly.

"Morning, Director," Emma responded pulling her hair behind her ears before engaging her in small talk.

Emma had known Jenny Shepard for years. She used to be partnered with Emma's father years ago when he was much greener...not that her father was ever really all that green. Emma had always liked Jenny. When she was younger, she had wished that her father would have married Jenny...not that she ever told him that. But Jenny was far better with children than any of her father's ex-wives had been.

The elevator dinged and Emma quickly rushed off the elevator, knowing full-well that her father was waiting for her. As she walked, she attempted to pull her long brown hair back into a ponytail until she went crashing into a hard body. There was an explosion of papers and between sheets of paper, Emma found the other person to be Agent Timothy McGee. He stood there blinking slowly at the mess of papers on the floor as the sound of clapping started. Without looking, Emma knew who was clapping: Very Special Agent: Tony DiNozzo.

Tony continued to clap as he stood and walked out from behind his desk. After a few seconds, he stopped clapping and leaned against the partition. "Fairly, solid. I'd give it a 7.5," Tony said with a smirk.

"7.5?" Emma asked quizzically.

"You didn't quite stick the landing on this one. The run-in with the coffee last week-perfect 10."

"Seriously? You have nothing better to do than that?"

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Nope."

Emma rolled her eyes at Tony before she bent down to help McGee who was already trying to gather the papers. "I'm really sorry about that, Tim," Emma said as she handed several papers to him.

"It's not me you should be worried about," McGee responded as he took the papers from Emma, making sure they were facing the right direction.

"He's pissed then?

McGee quickly looked over his shoulder and then back at Emma before he whispered, "That's one way of putting it."

"Pissed is more of an understatement," Tony acknowledged watching Emma and McGee pick up papers, making no move to help them. "Gibbs was more like a ferocious mother bear awakened early from hibernation and…"

Emma glanced at Tony and smirked at him, seeing who was standing beside him. Tony immediately paused before he groaned, "...and he's right behind me. Isn't he?"

"He is," Leroy Jethro Gibbs responded. He gave Tony a slap on the backside of the head, which Tony had already been expecting. Without another word, Gibbs walked back to his desk, ignoring Emma. Not a good sign.

Emma quickly got to her feet and followed after her father. "Dad…" she started, somewhat hesitantly.

Gibbs stopped and looked over his shoulder. "It's Special Agent Gibbs," he said.

She cringed slightly at the reprimand before she shook it off. "Special Agent Gibbs…"she started again as Gibbs sat down at his desk and stared at his computer screen. She stopped in front of his desk with her hands on her hips. "I'd like to explain why…"

Gibbs glanced up at her from his desk, took a sip of his coffee, and stated, "You're late. We don't pay you to be late."

Emma folded her arms across her chest. "I'm an intern. So, technically you don't pay me."

The room seemed to go silent.

Meanwhille, Tony and McGee stood there in awe, fully anticipating a Gibbs vs. Gibbs showdown. DiNozzo leaned toward McGee and whispered, "Twenty on Emma."

"No way," McGee responded with a shake of his head. "Gibbs isn't about to go easy on her. If anything he's gonna go harder on her since she's his daughter."

Just then, Ziva David approached them and narrowed her eyes, assessing the situation. Without needing to be told what was happening, she said, "Emma."

"So you're agreeing with Tony?" McGee asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Tony has nothing to do with it. Look at her body posture, she clearly has the upper hand in the situation," Ziva offered.

McGee's brow furrowed. "But you don't even know what they're talking about."

Ziva shrugged. "I do not have to."

"So you in then?" Tony asked Ziva. She gave a slight nod of her head, getting in on the bet. McGee shook his head and slightly rolled his eyes before the three of them focused back on the matter at hand.

Gibbs looked at Emma rather sternly. "As a member of this team, you're expected to be on time when I call, no excuses."

Emma shook her head and straightened her stance. "I was in class. A class which happens to be a graduation requirement. And I kinda need to graduate if I want to become an actual NCIS agent, Special Agent Gibbs."

She stopped and stared down her father. She hated that she felt like she had to prove herself to him...at least in this capacity. It was probably because he never really wanted her to intern with him to begin with-he never took interns. Emma had thought that Jenny was crazy to assign her to her father, but if anyone could be bias, it was Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs...even if it annoyed the hell out of her.

Gibbs glanced up at his daughter and took a sip of coffee from his to-go cup. He then gave a slight nod of his head before he looked back at his computer screen. "There are some files you should look at on your desk, Gibbs," he said without looking at her.

Emma exhaled the breath she had been holding before she walked over to her small desk behind a partition beside McGee's desk.

Tony couldn't help but share his excitement. "Yes! Cough it up, McWrong!" Tony said, holding his hand out to accept the money he had just won. McGee groaned. He scrunched his face as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket. Rather reluctantly, he pulled a twenty dollar bill out and handed it over to Tony. Tony smiled at the money in his hand. "Money well earned," he said with a grin.

"Some mole model you are," Ziva scoffed.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Role model. It's role model, Ziva. And what's that supposed to mean anyway?"

Emma looked at Ziva and smirked before she couldn't help but respond. "I think she's referring to you taking bets in the office...in front of the intern. Tsk. Tsk."

"Well, technically your back was to me. So, it wasn't in front of you," Tony argued.

"But it was in front of me, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, now holding his hand out in front of him at his desk.

Tony groaned before unwillingly handed Gibbs the $20 McGee had given him. Gibbs nodded at McGee to step forward. The younger agent did as directed and Gibbs gave him back his money. But Gibbs kept his hand extended and glanced at Tony once more. Without any words needing to be spoken, Tony pulled his wallet out and handed Gibbs another twenty dollar bill.

Gibbs nodded and put the money in his shirt pocket before he stood. "Behave in front of the interns, DiNozzo," he said before he walked away, headed for the Director's office.

Emma chuckled as she flipped through the stacks of files on her desk. As an intern, she felt like she did more paperwork than actual job training or shadowing, but she supposed that someone had to do it. Besides, if she knew her father...and she knew her father...he was likely trying to bore her to death to keep her from joining NCIS...and to keep her safe, but mostly the former. This wasn't the life he wanted for her. It never was. Not even before what happened to her sister and mother.

After a few minutes of Tony standing over her and clearing his throat, Emma finally looked up. "Can I help you?" she questioned.

"Well, you can start by giving me twenty dollars," Tony said rather casually.

Emma arched an eyebrow. "For what?"

"I'm kinda short twenty dollars since, you know, you tattled on me like a schoolgirl." Tony then held his hand out and motioned for the money. "Come on...pass it over."

Emma shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Hey, I'm Senior Agent, intern that means…"

"That means, no heckling the interns, DiNozzo," Gibbs said walking into the bullpen. "You try that again and you'll be the one filling out her paperwork. Now, all of you, grab your bags. We've got a dead petty officer."

"Where?" Ziva asked from her desk. The desk once belonging to Special Agent Caitlin Todd, whom Emma had always thought of as an older sister.

"Quantico." Gibbs reached behind his desk and grabbed his back before he quickly headed to the elevator. McGee and Ziva followed behind him.

Tony stood there for a moment staring in confusion. "But he was just there," Tony said pointing toward the Director's office. "And then he was…" he stopped for a moment to look at Gibbs desk. "How does he do that?"

Emma chuckled. "You're definitely showcasing your seniority, Tony. You are cashing in on your senior discounts, right, Senior Agent DiNozzo?" she teased. "

"I tried. They wouldn't let me," Tony muttered which made Emma laugh even harder. Imagining Tony walking up to a cashier trying to get a senior discount highly amused her.

The younger Gibbs grabbed her backpack and followed after the rest of the team with Tony trailing her. Although, she did hold the elevator door open for him. Tony was almost like a big brother to her. Annoying as hell at times, but you couldn't help but love it.

Once in the NCIS garage, they hopped in the truck and sped off toward the crime scene. With Ziva driving, there was never a dull moment in the truck. Not to mention that someone usually got carsick. This time, it was McGee. He clung for dear life inside the truck with his eyes closed, attempting to not puke over them.

When they arrived at the crime scene, the team exited the truck and found Ducky and Palmer waiting for them. Emma smiled at Ducky, but he wasn't about to be side-tracked as he beelined toward her father.

Ducky had always been an intermediary between Emma and her father...if they needed it. Sometimes, Emma felt like Ducky understood her more than her father did, but Ducky kiboshed that, claiming that her father just wasn't attuned to sharing his emotions. Emma loved her father, she did, but sometimes she felt like she was just a painful reminder to him.

"Gibbs! Gibbs, it's a good thing you've arrived," Ducky stated, waving his arms wildly as he approached Gibbs. "This gentleman won't allow Mr. Palmer or myself to enter the crime scene!"

Gibbs' brow furrowed for a moment before he approached the FBI agent standing guard at the crime scene tape. "What seems to be the problem?" he questioned.

The man glanced at Gibbs and responded, "I'm on strict orders to not allow anyone to enter the premise."

Irritatedly, Gibbs pulled his badge from his pocket and flashed it at the man. "I'm Agent Gibbs with NCIS and that's a dead Navy officer you have there."

"I'm sorry Agent Gibbs, but I'm on strict orders."

"Whose orders?"

"Mine." Team NCIS turned to watch a familiar man in an FBI jacket step beneath the yellow tape. The man was Tobias Fornell. He worked for the FBI and always seemed to be at odds with NCIS. Although, Emma also knew him as the man who married one of her father's ex-wives. It didn't turn out very well for him either.

Gibbs shook his head. "Fornell, you can't keep me from my crime scene," he said rather gruffly.

"Look here, Gibbs," Fornell stated. "This isn't your crime scene. Just go back to NCIS and whatever it is you do."

"I can see the dead Navy officer from here. Navy qualifies under NCIS jurisdiction, so my crime scene."

"But we're in FBI territory, Gibbs."

Both men stared at each other for a moment without saying anything. It was clear that neither man wanted to back down...especially not in front of an audience. Gibbs arched an eyebrow. "Fornell, would you care for a walk?"

Tobias nodded. "I could use a good stretch," he responded before he turned to the man standing guard. "Watch them," Fornell commanded. "Don't let them in without my permission, Masterson."

The FBI agent named Masterson nodded his head as Fornell and Gibbs walked away from the crime scene together. It was obvious they wanted to be out of earshot, probably to discuss the turf war.

Tony glanced at Masterson over his sunglasses and asked, "So, how well do they pay at the FBI?"

"Tony," Emma chuckled while Ziva and McGee groaned, but they should have expected as much. Tony was simply being Tony.

A strong gust of wind caused Emma to zip-up her unflattering NCIS windbreaker, that was a little too big for her. Tony grinned at her and tapped the brim of her baseball cap in his face, much like a big brother would do. Just when Emma got the cap readjusted, Jimmy Palmer approached her, grinning idiotically. "Hi, Emma," he stated a little too cheerfully.

"Hi, Palmer," Emma greeted, folding her arms across her chest.

Palmer stood there awkwardly smiling at Emma for a few moments. Emma glanced at Tony, who pretended not to notice her. Palmer turned to walk toward Ducky before he plucked up some courage. "Say, Emma, I was thinking we should catch a movie or something…"

Emma coughed in surprise, not having anticipated that. Thankfully, Tony seemed to be on top of things. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jimbo," Tony said wrapping an arm uncomfortably around Palmer's shoulder. "She's way out of your league. Not to mention that I'm pretty sure Gibbs would shoot you. I'm saving you a lot of pain upfront here."

"Tony," Emma groaned.

But Tony wasn't finished yet. "You know, if you're desperate for a date, I'd try someone at Homeland Security." Tony roughly patted Palmer's shoulder, before the man walked away rather dazed. Tony smirked, "Oh, the keen sting of rejection."

"Was that really necessary?" Emma asked with her hands on her hips.

Tony adjusted his cap and stood a little taller before he responded, "When Gibbs isn't here, I am Gibbs and you can't date Jimmy Palmer. It would break rule…" He stopped for a moment and momentarily looked confused. It was obvious he had forgotten which rule it was. He then attempted to get Emma to feed him the answer, "You know rule number…"

Emma just shook her head. "I'm not gonna let you tell me who I can and can't date, Tony. If I want to go on a date with Jimmy Palmer…"

"Gibbs, you're not dating Palmer," Leroy Jethro Gibbs said approaching them, having completely missed most of the conversation. "And DiNozzo, it's rule twelve."

Tony cringed before he said, "Allow me, boss." With that Tony slapped himself on the back of the head as Fornell glanced at him. Tony smiled at him.

Fornell shook his head. "There's something seriously wrong with you people," Fornell said. That made Gibbs smile.

McGee shifted uncomfortably beneath the gear he carried. "So, what's going on, boss?" McGee asked.

"Why don't we go find out, Tim?" Gibbs said stepping beneath the yellow tape and entering the crime scene.

"About time," Ziva muttered as she followed after Gibbs. Tony and McGee followed behind her.

Emma moved to follow, but Fornell placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and smiled at him. He smiled back and said, "You look prettier every time I see you, kiddo."

"I wish I could say the same for you, Tobias," Emma joked as she quickly hugged him. "And I'm not a kid anymore."

"You'll always be a kid to me," Fornell responded before he patted her arm. "So, how's school going?"

"It's going fine, I guess. It would be better if Special Agent Gibbs wasn't such a hardass."

Fornell chuckled. "He doesn't want to play favorites. Can't say I blame him. I mean, you are on his team after all. That doesn't normally happen, you know."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I do know. He wasn't happy about my placement either."

"Then, if you don't mind my asking, how did you end up assigned to him? I've never known Jethro to take on an intern."

"Jenny," Emma said rather pointedly glancing at Fornell. "She convinced him that he was the only one who wouldn't be biased for or against me. Plus the guy I was working under for the first day was determined to fail me because I was his daughter and Jenny didn't think it was fair...and no one else wanted to put up with me because of him."

"Your father sure makes a lot of enemies," Fornell chuckled.

"Don't I know it?" Emma scoffed, shaking her head.

Fornell smiled. "Well, if things don't work out with NCIS, you're always welcome at the FBI. I can put in a word or two."

Emma chuckled. "I should probably get in there."

Fornell nodded as Emma ducked beneath the tape. McGee handed her a pair of gloves and she quickly put them on. Tony handed her a camera and looked at her rather seriously. "Don't touch anything, intern," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Tony, I'm not an idiot. I've been coming to crime scenes almost as long as you have," Emma retorted.

"That may be, little intern, but you used to sit an appropriate distance away, on the outside looking in. Things are a little different on the inside."

Emma rolled her eyes again before she began taking pictures with the camera, listening in on her father's conversation with Ducky. "What's it look like, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"It's hard to say until I can further examine him, Jethro. But judging by his body temperature he's been dead no longer than twelve hours," Ducky said.

"Anything else, Duck?"

"I do believe the poor fellow has been moved, Jethro."

"I was just going to suggest the same thing," Ziva said. "Forensically speaking, there isn't much here. Plus there are fresh skid marks over there to suggest someone left in a hurry."

"Meaning we have a crime scene to find," Emma interjected and Gibbs muttered something under his breath.

McGee reached to grab something when Fornell slapped his hand. "Agent McGee don't touch anything. You're here as my guests and I won't have you messing things up."

"I thought this was our investigation," McGee said with a furrowed brow.

Gibbs shrugged. "The Director's working out a few minor details."

When the team had finished what they could, they headed back to NCIS to hopefully figure out more information than the body dumping site was giving them. Although no one was prepared for the turn the case was going to throw their way.


	3. The Intern

Upon arrival back at NCIS, Emma walked back to her desk and slumped onto her chair before the rest of the team was even upstairs. She turned on her computer before and leaned back in the chair as it booted up. Of course, being the intern meant she got the slowest computer in the squadroom. It was a wonder she was ever able to get any work done with it. But it also meant that she had to work that much harder to prove herself capable of playing with the big boys and worthy of her placement on the team.

Emma glanced across the squad room to find Mossad liaison officer Ziva David stepping off the elevator. The younger Gibbs motioned Ziva over and the Mossad liaison officer obliged. "What can I do for you, Emma?" Ziva asked as she approached the desk in the corner.

Pulling her backpack onto her lap, Emma dug through the bag before she pulled out a worn book and handed it over to Ziva. "You were right. I didn't think I'd like it, but you were right about it."

Ziva snatched the book back and smirked. "This is where you Americans say I told you so, no?"

"Yes, yes it is," Emma chuckled before digging in her bag once more. She pulled out Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook and held it out for Ziva to take. "Now, I believe it is your turn as per our agreement. Five bucks says it's gonna make you cry. Loser of the bet hosts the movie night."

"Deal." Ziva took the book from Emma and stacked it on top of her own book.

The elevator dinged. Tony and McGee walked off the elevator together. Emma glanced up at Ziva and spoke rather low. "I just wouldn't let Tony see you with that," she warned. While Emma knew that Tony hadn't read the book, she had forced him to go see the movie in theaters with her and he had cried like a baby. It wasn't blackmail Emma was ready to use yet. That secret still gave her too much leverage with Tony.

Ziva nodded her head and slipped The Notebook into one of the pockets on her cargo pants before she walked back to her desk without another word. Emma sighed. At first she hadn't wanted to like Ziva. Mostly because she wasn't Kate. While she had only known Kate for two years, the woman had been like a big sister to her and deep down, Emma didn't want to replace Kate with Ziva. But after Ziva had saved her father's life, they had forged somewhat of a relationship. It started out as a book club, but Emma was slowly beginning to think of Ziva as another big sister.

It was hard though. Emma had already lost two older sister now and she didn't want to chance losing a third. She chewed her bottom lip as thoughts of Kelly came to mind. No one on the team knew about Kelly. It wasn't something her father talked about. She knew that everyone thought that Diane was her mother and truth be told, despite how much Diane drove her father crazy, Diane was her mother figure. She even called her as such. But none of that changed the fact that her mother was Shannon and Kelly was her Irish twin, older than her by eleven months. Not that she ever said as much. No, her father didn't supply that information with his team and she wasn't going to do it for him. He had his reasons for doing things. While she might not understand them, she did respect them.

Emma wasn't sure how long she had been lost in thought, but it was long enough for Tony to now be standing in front of her desk snapping his fingers at her. "Baby Gibbs." Snap. "Gibbs Jr." Snap. "Spawn of Gibbs." Snap. Emma swatted at Tony's hand.

"You can stop now, Tony," she groaned as he moved to snap his fingers again. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Tony questioned leaning against Emma's desk. "How much time do you have? We could be here a while." Emma folded her arms across her chest and arched an eyebrow at him. "As Senior Field Agent, I'm just making sure you're doing your job, intern. You looked like you were halfway to Mars there."

"I'm just waiting for this stupid thing to load." Emma swiveled the computer monitor toward Tony. "Pretty sure this thing is still running on Windows 98.. If I had a computer that actually worked and was actually supported, I might be somewhat productive. Just a thought."

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Take it up with McGoo."

Emma rolled her eyes as her father walked into the squad room. "What do you have for me?" Gibbs asked as he strolled to his desk.

"Seriously, boss?" McGee questioned. "I mean we just…" Tim stopped talking when he noticed Gibbs glaring at him. McGee looked around somewhat nervously before a ding came from his computer. A few clicks later, McGee spoke once more. "Boss, our dead guy is Petty Officer third class, Jonathan Farris. He works on the Seahawk, originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin…"

"Cheesehead. Nice," Tony commented as he sat on the edge of Emma's desk. "Did you know they make cheesehead bikini tops too? I once slept with…"

"DiNozzo," Gibbs reprimanded. Tony cringed for a moment before he quickly ran back to his own desk and began typing on his computer. McGee reached for the clicker and turned the plasma on.

Emma groaned. She couldn't see the plasma from her desk. So, sitting in her chair, she backed her chair out from behind her desk and stopped it in front of her father's desk. Her father's expression showed he wasn't amused, but he rarely was when they worked together. He was always harder on her at work.

"What else do we got?" Gibbs asked. Ziva, McGee, Tony, and Emma looked between each other somewhat nervously. None of them said anything. "So, basically you got nothing," Gibbs said as he stood up. "Gibbs, you're with me. The rest of you...do your jobs."

Tony, McGee, and Ziva began to furiously type on their computers with their eyes practically glued to the screens. Emma pushed her chair back into her corner before she quickly followed her father out of the squad room and to the elevator. She stood silently beside him as the doors to the elevator closed. Part of her wondered if he was going to stop the elevator, like he did with so many others, but they made it down to autopsy without a hitch.

"Doc, what you got for me?" Gibbs asked as he stepped through the doors into autopsy.

Ducky turned around and glanced at Gibbs. "Jethro, I've hardly had time to become accustomed with our deceased."

"So you got nothing then?"

"I didn't say that," Ducky stated, glancing at Gibbs over his spectacles. "Why, just the contrary. I was having Mr. Palmer remove our deceased's shoes. It was a good thing Mr. Palmer dropped the shoe because it gave me time to glance down. Which reminds of this one time in medical school, when I…"

"Duck, the point?"

"Right, sorry, Jethro. The point is that our petty officer here was wearing a size thirteen shoe."

"And?"

Ducky arched an eyebrow. "By my account, our petty officer is about an eight."

Gibbs' brow furrowed. It was obvious the gears in his head were turning as to why this guy would have on a pair of shoes that weren't his. Emma folded her arms across her chest and cleared her throat. "I think we can rule out clown. He doesn't seem the type. He could be-uh-trying to impress, but they're not Navy regulation shoes."

Jethro looked at his daughter for a moment before looking at the deceased. Jimmy Palmer then walked through the doors, meaning that Abby had just gotten the clothes and shoes. It was going to be a while before he had the answers he wanted. Abby was fast, but she wasn't that fast. No one was. Gibbs glanced up at the clock for a moment before looking back at Emma. "Go home for the night, Gibbs."

Emma blinked slowly. "Excuse me?"

Gibbs looked at his daughter pointedly. "You heard me. Go home. Get some rest and get back at it in the morning."

"But what about everyone else? Aren't they staying?"

"Yeah, but you're an intern. Remember?" Jethro arched an eyebrow at his daughter.

Clearly he was pointing back to their earlier conversation. He had a habit of doing that. Bringing up prior conversations when you least expected them. Emma shook her head. "You know what? Fine. I'll go. Mostly because I'll probably never hear those words one I'm actually an agent. Not to mention that I can rub it in Tony's face."

Gibbs gave Emma a wry smile as she headed for the elevator. She stopped suddenly and glanced over her shoulder. "Will you be home for dinner or am I on my own?"

He sighed before he reached into his pocket for his wallet. Jethro pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to his daughter. "Pick up a pizza on your way home." Emma pocketed the money in her jeans' pocket before she nodded her head and exited autopsy.

"I know I probably shouldn't say anything Jethro…" Ducky started.

"Then don't, Duck."

"But I feel I must in the interest of all involved parties." Ducky paused for a moment and when Gibbs didn't say anything to argue with him, he continued. "Your little girl isn't a little girl anymore, Jethro."

Gibbs folded his arms across his chest and glanced at Ducky. "Yeah, I know." His tone sounded rather annoyed.

Ducky hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should continue. But if Jethro was going to listen to anyone, it would most likely be him. "Then might I suggest not treating her like one when it comes to the job. As an intern, Emma knows more than most probationary or junior agents. You taught her well Jethro. Trust that."

"I do, Duck. I do. But Emma needs to earn her spot and if I let her get by resting on her laurels, that's not gonna do anyone any good." Ducky smiled and nodded his head knowingly. Gibbs nodded his head in return before he headed for the elevator and back up to the squad room. He found Emma standing in front of Tony's desk with her backpack slung on one shoulder. It was obvious she was taunting him.

"Gibbs, don't make me change my mind," Jethro said as he passed by Emma.

"I was just leaving," Emma said. Tony glanced to see if Gibbs was watching him before he made a face at Emma. She stuck her tongue out at him. Tony was the big brother she never wanted and she was the little sister Tony never wanted. Despite the lack of maturity sometimes, their relationship worked. At the end of the day, they would always have each other's backs. Although Tony could get rather overprotective at times.

Emma left the squad room and took the elevator down to the ground level. From there she exited the building and walked to her car in the parking lot. The drive home was fairly uneventful, typical D.C. traffic, which meant that it took forever to get anywhere. The joys of living in a big city.

When she arrived home, Emma situated herself to carry her belongings and dinner inside in one trip. Thankfully, her father never locked the house door, so it was a little easier to get inside. Emma set the pizza box down on the kitchen table before she ran upstairs to set her backpack down in her bedroom. When she got back downstairs, she was surprised to find him pulling a slice of pizza out of the box.

"How did you…" Emma paused and furrowed her brow. 'But when did you…." She stopped again and shook her head. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a case to work on?"

"The case is in good hands. They know to call me," Gibbs said slapping a piece of cheese pizza onto a paper plate. "I think I can afford some time eating dinner with my daughter."

"You're going back in when you're done, aren't you?" Emma asked. By now, she was used to her father spending almost all his time at NCIS. Or in the basement. But usually at NCIS. She knew the good that he did for others and while she wanted to do the same-deep down, Emma also wanted to join NCIS in hopes of seeing him more. And she had a feeling that deep down, he knew it too.

She still remembered when he would go undercover and be gone for months at a time. He had just sent her on a bus to Stillwater, Pennsylvania to stay with her grandfather. While he refused to step foot in Stillwater himself, it was clearly good enough for his only surviving daughter. If Emma was honest with herself, she was still holding onto some lingering resentment.

"Emma. Em-" Emma was knocked out of her reverie. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she had missed his response. She sighed and looked at her father.. Emma shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. Her father walked up to her and pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Let's eat, kiddo."

Gibbs sat down at the table and Emma took the seat across from him. Dinner was a rather silent affair, but the elder Gibbs had never been much of a talker. Something the younger Gibbs didn't inherit from her father. But after enough one-sided conversations, Emma knew when words weren't always necessary. Especially with her father. When Gibbs finished eating, he walked over and kissed the top of his daughter's head before he headed back to NCIS. A scene Emma was all too familiar with.

Emma moved to the living room and turned on the ancient television. She was pretty certain she was the only person her age who knew how to use the dinosaur contraption her father insisted on keeping. She then went and sat down on the armchair and tried to relax. The TV was just background noise. It had been a long day. She only intended to close her eyes for a moment, but she ended up falling asleep in the chair.

When her father returned well after midnight, he took once glance at his daughter and sighed. He wrapped one of her arms around his neck before he picked her up so many times as he had when she was a child. Slowly, he carried her upstairs to her bedroom before he gently laid Emma in her bed. "I love you, Daddy," Emma murmured against her pillow.

For a moment, she reminded him of Shannon. But he pushed his feelings aside. Jethro pushed her hair out of her face before he bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek before he silently left the room. This wasn't the life he wanted for her. He didn't agree with some of her choices, but they were hers to make. He was going to let her sleep because he already knew that tomorrow was going to be an eventful day at NCIS.


	4. Introductions

Emma sprinted from the parking lot into NCIS, carefully holding onto her coffee cup. McGee had texted her that there was a new development on the case while she had been in class. Seeing as it was Professor Ash's class she had been in, she knew better than to leave. He had it out for her, clear as day and it wasn't because of anything she had done. No, it was because he had a kerfuffle with her father years ago on some case and so now Professor Ash chose to take things out on her. But if she passed his class, after this semester, she wouldn't have to put up with Professor Ash anymore. That was why she stayed. Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission. Her father she couldn't fault her for abiding by his own rules.

Once she was through security, Emma ran to the elevator, which seemed to be running slower than normal. Her phone buzzed. It was from Tony. Baby Bear where r u? Papa Bear is pissed. Emma groaned and flipped her phone closed. There wasn't a point in responding because she would be there as soon as she got off the stupid elevator. Although she was half-tempted to ask Tony if in his scenario he was Mama Bear of Goldilocks.

When Emma finally spilled-off the elevator with several NCIS agents onto the squad room floor, she glanced toward the bullpen to find more people standing there than usual. Most of them were surrounding her father's desk and had their backs to her. Emma stopped beside Tony's desk and whispered, "Who are they?"

"Don't know," Tony responded leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head. "I assume that since they're with Fornell, they're probably FBI, but we're waiting for Gibbs to get back from his coffee run for introductions."

Emma smiled, took a sip of her coffee, and shook her head. "He probably planned it that way on purpose."

"Who, Gibbs?" Tony questioned with a raised eyebrow.

After shaking her head and scoffing, Emma responded, "No, Tobias. He probably waited until he saw Dad go for coffee and then snuck in here for some kind of power move-meaning that whatever this is, it's probably big."

"Probably another turf war. You missed out on another body this morning. We got the call and then Fornell showed up. It wasn't pretty."

"Same killer?"

"Looks that way."

Emma sighed. Another body. Their killer was escalating. Since the group of what she assumed were FBI agents, blocked the path to her desk, Emma sat down on the front of Tony's desk.

"You're blocking the view," Tony whispered as he pushed Emma so that she slid a few inches to the right. She rolled her eyes but Ziva having seen the interaction strolled over and sat down on Tony's desk beside Emma. "Oh, come on! Seriously?" Tony groaned.

Ziva smirked. Emma held her fist out toward Ziva. They bumped fists. Tony muttered something under his breath before he stood up so that he could see over Emma and Ziva. Emma leaned over to whisper something to Ziva when she heard the elevator ding and a familiar voice shout, "What the hell is this, Fornell?"

Emma turned to see her father striding toward them, with a coffee cup in hand. "This is gonna be good," Tony whispered to Emma and she had to agree. Another Gibbs-Fornell showdown? They always seemed to live for the theatrics. Although, Emma was more aware of the true nature of their relationship than most people.

"Good to see you again too, Gibbs," Fornell said from where he was seated in Gibbs' chair with his feet up on Gibbs' desk with a smirk on his face. Clearly, they knew how to ruffle each other's feathers. "I thought we should think of it as our desk since it's now our investigation."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Fornell. "Our investigation?" Gibbs repeated.

"With NCIS leading," Director Shepard said from the entrance to the bullpen. Everyone turned to look at her. She stood there in a sharp looking, pinstripe ladies suit with her arms folded across her chest. She meant business.

"Semantics," Fornell said, brushing off what the director had said with a wave of his hand. "You can claim lead all you want, but by the end of this thing, we'll all know it was the BAU who actually lead it."

"BAU? What's that?" Tony whispered to Emma.

"Behavior Analysis Unit," Emma whispered back. "They're a special unit of the FBI."

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Never heard of them," he responded loud enough for Fornell to hear.

Fornell raised an eyebrow at Tony before he said, "Now you have, DiNozzo." His pronunciation of DiNozzo, made Emma roll her eyes, Tobias was always trying to ruffle Team Gibbs'. Sarcastically, Tony gave Fornell a thumbs up, which made Fornell chuckle. "I'll allow their unit chief Aaron Hotchner to make introductions."

A tall, stern looking man with dark hair stepped forward and turned toward Team Gibbs. "As Agent Fornell pointed out, I'm Aaron Hotchner, unit chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI and this is my team." He gestured with his hands to the people surrounding him. "First, our media liaison Jennifer Jareau..."

A woman with long blonde hair smiled and waved her hand. The woman said that they could call her JJ. Agent Hotchner pointed out that JJ's work focused on talking with families as well as dealing with the press. Having someone to deal with the press might be nice. Usually, it was just Agent Gibbs giving the press the silent treatment.

Hotchner continued. "...SSA Derek Morgan…"

A fine looking man smiled. He motioned his index and middle fingers from his head to the air in acknowledgment. Emma turned toward Ziva, who was looking at him like a lioness on the prowl. Derek seemed to look right at Ziva and she smirked back at him. Emma covered her mouth with her hand to hide a chuckle.

"...SSA Emily Prentiss…"

A dark-haired woman in a black suit stood a little taller, unfolded her arms to wave for a moment before she folded her arms again. The woman's stance and presence kinda reminded Emma of Kate, a woman trying to prove themselves in a man's world. Emily and Kate probably would have been friends.

"...SSA Jason Gideon..."

Gideon took a step forward, nodded at them, and then took a step back to where he started. Emma recognized Gideon from her lecture. If he was here then maybe...Emma's eyes widened when she spotted the other face she recognized.

"...and Dr. Spencer…"

"Reid," Emma whispered simultaneously at Agent Hotchner said his name. Reid awkwardly pushed himself to the front of the group. He was dressed in a cardigan over his button-up shirt and tie. Jeans and black Converse sneakers completed his ensemble. Emma grinned at his footwear before looking down at her red Converse before looking back up at him. Perhaps they had something in common after all.

Reid took notice of Emma because his expression slightly changed as they made eye contact. His smile appeared to be a little more genuine and his wave a little more enthusiastic. Emma's smile widened, but she caught a glimpse of Tony in the corner of her eye. Judging from the look Tony was giving her, he must have noticed her ogling. So she quickly looked away as a blush crept up her neck to her cheeks. She took a sip of coffee to try and cover it up.

"And your team?" Agent Hotchner directed to Gibbs.

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee and nodded his head. "I'm Gibbs. That's Special Agent Tony DiNozzo…" he pointed toward Tony, who was standing behind Emma and Ziva with his chest puffed out more than normal.

"Very special agent," Tony said with a grin.

Agent Prentiss leaned over and whispered something into JJ's ear. JJ chuckled and rolled her eyes. Gibbs looked at Emma. She nodded knowingly before she leaned back and gave Tony an endearing slap on the back of the head. "Hey!" Tony shouted as the others tried not to laugh.

"...Special Agent Tim McGee…" Gibbs pointed back toward McGee, who looked over enthusiastic at his introduction, but he quickly realized it and stopped what he was doing.

"...Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David…" Ziva rested her hands on Tony's desk, leaned back against them and nodded her head before making eye contact with Derek. Derek grinned. Gibbs shook his head took another sip of his coffee.

"...and our intern, Emma Gibbs." Gibbs nodded toward his daughter. Emma smiled and waved at the team, careful not to make eye contact with Reid. The last thing she needed was more comments from Tony which were going to be inevitable at this point. She didn't need to provoke him further.

"And before you ask, yes, she is his daughter," Fornell chimed in.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes slightly at Fornell. "And how is that pertinent to our investigation?"

Fornell shrugged. "It isn't, but I'm sure they were wondering."

After taking another sip of his coffee, Gibbs groaned and said, "Let's just get to work. Out of my damn chair, Tobias."

"I was thinking about asking for it in our divorce settlement," Fornell said with a smirk before he continued. "I know better than to think I'll get any alimony money."

"Out. Now."

"Touchy, touchy," Fornell said holding his hands up defensively as he got to his feet before he looked at Director Shepard. "And you wonder why no one wants to work with NCIS."

Emma chuckled before she looked at Reid. She couldn't tell what he thought of the situation. Clearly, there was some tension, but he couldn't possibly know that some of it was a well-constructed act. She caught Reid glancing at her in return. Thankfully, Tony didn't seem to notice because they were all distracted by the shouts of "Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" coming from the elevator and toward them.

It was Abby Scuito, NCIS' own chief forensic scientist, coming toward them. Her boots clomped with every step she took and her black pigtails swished. Emma smiled at the sight of Abby. Despite her gothic exterior, Abby had a heart of gold and was probably the most bubbly and upbeat person Emma knew. Abby stopped beside Director Shepard and looked at all the people standing in the bullpen. Confusion was written on her face.

"What is it, Abbs?" Gibbs asked.

Abby stood there, glancing around at everyone. Gibbs motioned for her to come toward him. So, she did. Although, she did stop for a moment to admire Derek Morgan. "Who are you?" Abby asked with a grin on her face.

Derek grinned right back at her. "SSA Derek Morgan, a pleasure to meet you…" His words trailed off, in a way that was asking her to finish.

"Abby. Abby Scuito."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Abby Scuito."

Abby cocked her head. "Do they all look this good at the FBI? I might have joined the wrong…" While Abby was ogling, McGee took it upon himself to walk over to her and pulled her away from Derek and directed her toward Gibbs.

"Didn't you have something to tell Gibbs, Abbs?" McGee interrupted.

"McGee," Abby hissed, swatting at his hands. He let go and then Abby turned around and continued to swat at him. "Don't. Do. That. Again." She then stopped, set her shoulders, and turned toward Gibbs. "Now, where was I?"

"You had something for me?" Gibbs responded.

"Right. I do. I was sorting through the evidence from this morning's vic when I took notice of his shoes. I think it's our guy Gibbs. I'm still testing for DNA, but the shoes found next to the body are a size 8 the same as…"

"Justin Farris, the guy from yesterday's crime scene," Emma finished for her.

"Gold star for Emma!" Abby said giving Emma a thumbs-up. "But seriously, if you want your gold star, just swing by my lab and…"

"Abby," Gibbs interrupted, bringing Abby back.

"The shoes on the new vic are navy regulation. But get this, I'm pretty sure the uniform isn't his. I've run the guy through our database and came up with nothing. Nadda. The uniform belonged to Petty Officer Cash Stevenson, who is currently MIA. The newest vic is likely a civilian."

"So, why put him in Stevenson's uniform?" McGee asked.

The members of the BAU looked at each other, clearly, most of them had already come to a conclusion. It was Gideon who responded. "Because whoever this is, probably wants NCIS on this case. He's toying with you. It's probably personal to him."

"Which also means there's another crime scene, maybe more that we don't know about," Prentiss added. "He's laying breadcrumbs that we haven't found yet that will lead us to his endgame"

"Meaning we need to follow the trail backward to the beginning to get a better picture of what is coming," Hotchner added. "Prentiss, Morgan, I want you two at the scene from this morning. Gideon and I will go to the scene from yesterday. Reid and JJ, I want you two working from here building up what ties to NCIS this guy could have."

Then Gibbs gave his marching orders. "McGee and Ziva I want you two with Prentiss and Morgan at the most recent crime scene." Ziva smiled at Derek before she hopped from Tony's desk and walked to her own to grab her bag before she and McGee followed Prentiss and Morgan to the elevator.

Tony put his NCIS hat on and put on his backpack. "What about me, boss?" Tony asked, looking similar to a kindergartner on their first day of school.

Gibbs smirked. "A very special agent deserves a very special job. You're keeping an eye on the intern, making she doesn't do something stupid while I head out with Hotchner and Gideon."

Tony's expression sank. "Babysitting? I'm babysitting?"

"Good luck, DiNozzo," Fornell said, walking over toward Tony and patting him on the shoulder. "I've had to do it a time or two and believe me, she's a handful. You're going to need all the luck you can get" He patted Tony's shoulder once more before he walked away.

"I'm wasn't that bad, was I?" Emma called to Fornell.

Fornell stopped and smiled. "You would have been...had I not bribed you with chocolate." Emma laughed and Fornell stepped onto the elevator. When Emma turned back toward the bullpen, everyone seemed to have left except for Tony, JJ, and Reid.

Dr. Reid busied himself on McGee's computer, jumping straight into the work, pulling up NCIS agent files for any red flags. Tony finally seemed to accept his duty because he dropped his backpack to the floor and threw his baseball cap on top of it. He sat down at his desk before he pushed Emma off his desk.

Emma went flying. She squealed as he fell before she landed in a heap on the floor. "That's for the head slap earlier," Tony said.

Emma could feel Dr. Reid and JJ staring at her. JJ reached out her hand and helped Emma to her feet. "Don't worry, I got this," JJ whispered to Emma before she walked over to Tony. JJ flipped her blonde hair a little and smiled. "Hey, you would happen to be able to show me to a secure line so I can contact our technical analyst back at Quantico, could you?"

Tony's mopey expression quickly changed to one of glee. He practically jumped out of his desk and onto his feet. "Right this way, please," Tony said in a lower voice, holding his arm out and pretending to be chivalrous. "Intern, I'll be right. Be good and don't do anything I wouldn't do...or anything I would do," Tony said to Emma. "Just stay."

Emma rolled her eyes, as Tony and JJ walked away. Although, she didn't miss the wink from JJ. Thank you, Emma mouthed toward her. Anyone who could handle Tony was good in her book. She then turned around and looked around the bullpen.

It was just Dr. Reid and her.

Author's Note: Here's another chapter! Not my best, but hey, it's here! Sorry, it wasn't sooner. I go where my muse takes me and my muse hasn't been really wanting to do much. Real life has been a pain in the ass this school year...so dealing with a lot of that. Thank you for being understanding. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, favorited-it means a lot!


	5. Coffee

Alone. Emma and Reid were together alone. Well...as alone as two people could be at NCIS once one forgot about the cameras and other agents outside of Team Gibbs' bullpen. Slowly, Emma walked from where she had been sitting on Tony's desk to her own desk. She had to walk past Dr. Reid who sat at McGee's desk furiously typing on the keyboard. Emma watched him, hoping that he would glance her way, but he didn't. He was focused. Very focused. Too focused to be bothered to notice her.

Emma slid into her desk chair and sighed. She wasn't sure why she cared so much. She hardly even knew him. Not to mention that their efforts should be focused on finding the killer and here she was acting like a teenage girl. It was ridiculous. But then again, Emma hadn't felt like this since high school. For years now she had been driven and focused toward her goal of becoming an NCIS special agent. She didn't live in the dorms like most people her age did. She didn't go out partying or honestly doing much with people her age. Most of her time was spent with her father and his team. It was a little weird when one thought about it, but honestly, Emma wouldn't have it any other way. Or at least she hadn't.

She rubbed her temples. This was exactly why she hadn't allowed boys to distract her. She wasn't infallible. No, she was quite human. But there was something about Dr. Spencer Reid that intrigued her. There was only one solution to remedy the situation: she had to distract herself by throwing herself into her work. That always worked...or at least, it had.

So, Emma began searching through local newspapers looking for any deaths that hadn't fallen under their jurisdiction but could possibly be related. After several minutes of searching, and coming up with nothing, Emma reached for her coffee cup and took a sip. Empty. Emma groaned, but in the corner of her eye she saw someone watching her. She tilted her head to the right to see Dr. Reid staring down at her over the divider between her desk and McGee's.

"Can I help you?" Emma asked, arching an eyebrow as she looked up at him.

Dr. Reid's eyes widened for a moment at being caught but they quickly returned back to normal. He cleared his throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"I believe you just did." Trying to act calm, Emma once again reached for her coffee cup and took a sip. Realizing her mistake, she tried to make it look like she swallowed something before she set her empty cup back down on her desk.

Reid smirked. "Still empty?" he asked, his tone easily could have been interpreted as teasing.

But Emma was already in this deep. So, she glanced up at him and said, "Is that your question? Surely, you can do better Dr. Reid."

That made him chuckle. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "I could use some coffee myself. Would you like to direct me to the break room?"

"God, no."

Reid's brow furrowed in confusion. His expression looked like he had said something wrong. He was prone to misreading things. So perhaps, he had misread this.

Emma immediately realized her mistake. "I didn't mean it like it sounded. I just mean that the breakroom coffee sucks. I think it's in my genetics not to like the stuff. But there's a coffee cart not far away from here with much, much better coffee. I would be more than willing to direct you there."

He mouthed the word oh and nodded his head. Emma stood up and tossed her empty coffee cup into the trash receptacle before she grabbed her backpack and walked up to Dr. Reid. "Shall we?" she asked before walking toward the elevator.

Reid walked in step with her. Emma pressed the elevator button. As they stood there waiting for the elevator door to open, Dr. Reid said, "You know, I don't think that dislike for certain types of coffee is genetic."

"So, you're trying to tell me it's an environmental/nurture thing?" Emma asked, cocking an eyebrow. She smiled and then chuckled. "Yeah, I get that a lot. But trust me, there's gotta be something more to it having DNA from Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

The bell dinged, the doors opened, and they stepped onto the elevator. "I don't think so," Dr. Reid responded.

"Dr. Reid, I'm messing with you. And if you're gonna work with NCIS you better get used to it. I'm the tame one." Emma looked up at him with a smile.

Dr. Reid shook his head. "Somehow, I actually believe you."

"You should. It's for your own safety." The door to the elevator opened and they exited. "I mean, you've got Tony. He more bark than bite. McGee's probably more your style, although he doesn't always execute quite right. Ziva, you've gotta watch out for her. If she's quiet, she's probably plotting. And then there's my dad. You wouldn't think he'd get you, but when he does...you know it."

They exited NCIS and headed down the path toward the coffee cart. "How am I doing so far?"

Reid's brow furrowed again. "What-what do you mean?"

Emma arched an eyebrow at him. "I might be only an intern, but I know what you're doing. You were forced to stay back at NCIS to gather information on the team. This little outing for coffee was a way for you to get my guard down so I'd spill vital information about my team in a non-threatening situation."

Reid looked at her quite impressed before his expression turned sheepish. "You're only partly right. I mean, yes, I hoped you'd give me more insight to your team...only to help us figure out why the unsub is targeting your team...which might help us in catching them."

"But?" Emma asked, looking up at him curiously.

He glanced down at her before he brushed some of his hair behind his ear. "But you're the one I'm having some trouble understanding. I was hoping this non-threatening trip to the coffee cart would help me better understand you. And I really did want some coffee. I'm just not as picky as you."

"Ouch," Emma said putting her hand over her heart. She then chuckled. "You really think the unsub would have something to do with me? I'm not even really an official team member."

Reid shrugged his shoulders. "I figured you'd probably be the easiest one to rule out, once I got you figured out."

"You really think you're gonna get me all figured out after one trip to the coffee cart, Dr. Reid?" Emma asked with a smirk on her face. She turned so that she was walking backward, keeping her eyes on him, with her hands in her pockets.

"The more I talk to you, the less likely that seems." He then tugged on her arm and pulled her toward him to keep her from walking into someone. They stopped for a moment and Emma glanced up at him, while Reid looked down at her. She smiled. He smiled back.

She then turned, flipping her ponytail at him and started to walk away. Reid groaned before he took a few extra steps to catch up to her. "All right, Dr. Reid, what do you want to know?"

"So, you're interning at NCIS while attending George Washington University. Leroy Jethro Gibbs is your father…"

"Is there a question in there?" Emma teased.

"Tell me about Professor Ash."

"Oh-he might make a good unsub."

"Really?" Reid questioned, taken aback by how quickly she responded.

Emma laughed. "I mean, I suppose having an ex-wife in common with my father might be decent motivation...but I think he'd much rather make my life hell until May before he goes on any killing sprees."

"So that's why he hates you?" Reid still looked a little confused.

She sighed. "He seems to think it's justified. I just tell myself that once I graduate in May, my time served will be over and I'll be let go for good behavior."

Reid looked at her quizzically. He wasn't sure whether or not to correct her. It could be another trap. So, he let it slide as they approached the coffee cart. Emma told the man running the cart what she wanted. She moved to hand him some cash, but Reid gently pushed her arm down.

"I got this," he said without looking at her. "I mean, I am questioning you, after all."

"True," Emma said in agreement. "But these are going on my punch card then. I mean, you are questioning me after all."

Reid glanced down at her to see her smiling up at him. She was teasing him again. But it wasn't like the teasing he had experienced growing up nor was it quite the teasing he received from his coworkers. It was in a league completely of its own.

Emma handed the man her punch card and then they headed back to NCIS with their coffees in hand. "Anything else you want to know?" Emma asked after taking a sip of her coffee. "Like how old I am? Or…"

"You're twenty-two," Reid quickly responded. "You basically told me as much."

"I'm sensing an and."

He smiled and nodded. "And your file lists your age."

Emma looked at him incredulously, although she had figured as much. "You looked at my file? That's called cheating."

"That's called doing my job."

"No, that's called cheating, Dr. Reid." She smiled up at him. She knew he was just doing his job and she didn't have a problem with that, but it was fun to tease him.

"No, it's not," he argued almost childishly because for some reason he found himself enjoying going back and forth with her.

"No?" Emma asked with an arched eyebrow. "So, then you won't mind if I pull your file up when we get back?"

"It would be completely irrelevant to the case," he argued.

"So? It would be fair though. You looked at my file, so I get to look at yours."

"It doesn't work that way. Besides, I highly doubt you would have access to my file." At that point, Reid was fairly confident he had won.

But Emma arched an eyebrow and put one hand on her hip. "You think something as trivial as clearance level is going to stop me?"

Reid looked at her rather incredulously which made her burst into laughter. "I'm bluffing," Emma said between peals of laughter. She wiped at her watery eyes and then attempted to stand tall next to him. "I'm no profiler, but I think there's something in your file you don't want me seeing."

His cheeks turned a little pink, but he responded, "You're actually a pretty good profiler. He shoved his free hand into his pocket. "Which leads me to believe you could get a job almost anywhere after you graduate. Why NCIS?"

Emma was a little taken aback by his question. Honestly, she thought it obvious that she should follow in her father's footsteps. So, she told him as much. "My dad."

Reid narrowed his eyes quizzically and then shook his head. "That's not all of it. Not by a longshot."

"No? Then you tell me why NCIS, Dr. Profiler Extraordinaire."

Reid shrugged.''That's where I'm stuck. There's something more I can't put a finger on. Most kids would be angry for taking their parent away and steer clear. But not you. I mean, there might have been some of that growing up for you, if I'm not mistaken, but it wasn't enough to keep you away."

Emma nodded her head.

"It has something to do with your mother, doesn't it?"

Whoa. Like their first real conversation and he was already bringing up her mother. Emma's eyes widened at him and he nodded his head at her nonverbal confirmation.

"I don't know role she plays in things though. I tried to look into her, but I couldn't even get a name. The file is restricted and what I did manage to get was heavily redacted. I-uh-I highly doubt she's involved in this though, but if you do manage to see a link, I'll need you to tell me...or one of us...it doesn't have to be me."

"Highly unconventional," Emma commented. "But thank you. I-I don't really talk about her. Truth is I don't know or remember much. They say that's normal though."

Even though Reid didn't know what she was referring to, he just nodded his head and they walked back into NCIS. Upon their return to the bullpen, they found Tony standing by his desk with his arms folded across his chest and his foot tapping impatiently. "Where have you two been?" Tony asked.

"Getting coffee," Emma said holding her coffee cup.

"And you didn't think to get any for me?"

"Nope."

Emma and Reid attempted to walk past him, but Tony quickly blocked their path. He looked at them scrutinizingly. Tony looked at Emma and Reid several times before he clicked his tongue disapprovingly and shook his head. "I interrupted something, didn't I? Please tell me I interrupted something?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Nope," she responded curtly before side-stepping Tony and heading back to her desk. Tony turned and scowled at Emma behind her back before he turned back and had a slight staredown with Dr. Reid. Reid just raised his eyebrows and walked past Tony back to McGee's desk.

Tony groaned and walked back to his desk looking rather mopey.

Watching over the divider, Emma chuckled at Tony when her phone suddenly began to ring the theme song to Harry Potter. She quickly tried to pull her phone out of her backpack but struggled for a few seconds.

"What's that song?" Reid asked curiously.

"Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter," Emma responded as she finally pulled her phone from her bag.

"Harry Potter?"

Emma's jaw dropped slightly in shock that he hadn't heard of Harry Potter. She then glanced at Tony who looked like Christmas Day had come early. He rubbed his hands together and walked over toward Reid.

"You mean, you've never heard of Harry Potter?" Tony asked rather gleefully.

"No…" Reid responded somewhat hesitantly, which only made Tony smile more. Reid looked up at Emma for help.

"Good luck," Emma laughed at him before she answered her phone, just before it was to go to voicemail.

The person calling her was McGee. He seemed somewhat perplexed from the timbre of his voice. He asked her to check something on his computer for him. Emma found it slightly amusing that he asked her, the intern, instead of Tony, the senior agent, but she didn't say anything. Now didn't seem to be a good time.

Emma shooed Reid out of McGee's chair with her hands. He quickly stood up so that Emma could sit down. Although, he made sure to put Emma between him and Tony, which was rather annoying for Emma because they continued to converse while she was on the phone with McGee and searching on his computer.

It was Tony who continued the conversation, "Harry Potter, boy wizard?" he asked.

Reid shook his head.

"Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord, evil wizard who is nice enough to only try and kill Harry at the end of the school year?"

Again, Reid shook his head.

"Dumbledore?"

"I've already told you no," Reid said.

Tony slightly narrowed his eyes. "I thought you might be bluffing. I know how you FBI guys are."

Reid didn't respond to that. But Tony just couldn't drop it. "Don't you read?" he asked.

"Of course. Actually, I can read 20,000 words…"

Tony looked at Reid in disbelief. "What could you possibly read if you haven't read Harry Potter?"

"Well, what I read is mostly factual…"

"Don't make excuses!" Tony said wagging his finger above Emma's head at Reid. Dr. Reid leaned back a little, clearly unsure of what to make of Tony. He made eye contact with Emma for help, which made her chuckle.

"Hang on, Tim," Emma said. She then turned toward Reid. "You'll have to forgive Tony. Harry Potter was the first book, Tony, actually ever managed to open and finish. It excites him."

Reid chuckled as Tony gave Emma a Gibbs head slap. "Hey!" Emma groaned. "On the phone here."

"On the phone here," Tony mocked in a childish tone.

Emma rolled her eyes and told McGee that she would call him back when she had what he was looking for. She found it hard to concentrate having both Reid and Tony watching over her back. But thankfully, after a few minutes, Ducky brought a welcome distraction.

"Where's Jethro?" he asked, sounding a little winded.

"He's at this morning's crime scene with…" Emma trailed off and she looked to Dr. Reid for help.

It didn't take Reid all that long to see her cry for help. "He's with Hotch and Gideon," Reid responded.

Ducky looked rather worried and anxious.

"I can call him if you'd like," Emma offered.

"Yes, please do. It's urgent and he needs to hear this."


	6. Room for the Holy Spirit

Emma dialed her father's number on McGee's desk phone. She had dialed the number hundreds, probably thousands of times, but with Dr. Reid watching her every move she hit a wrong number and had to hang up for a few seconds before trying again. Refusing to make eye contact with Dr. Reid, Emma blushed instead.

For some reason, Dr. Reid was flustering her. She wasn't used to men being able to fluster her like this. She had sworn them off and hadn't thought twice about it. At least not until she had met Dr. Spencer Reid. She couldn't quite understand how she had let him get under her skin like this, but he had. Although in her defense, she was probably just hormonal and he had been nice to her, sending everything into a tizzy. That had to be it. Right? Emma sighed. Work. She needed to focus on work. But when a woman answered, she realized that she had called the wrong number again. Dammit.

"Here, let me," Tony offered smugly, dialing Gibbs' number. Emma tugged at the collar of her shirt causing Ducky to look at her sympathetically.

"Emma, are you feeling all right? You look quite flushed," Ducky observed. "Have you been getting enough sleep? College students are notorious for…"

"I'm fine, Ducky," Emma groaned which made her blush intensify. She bit her bottom lip in hopes of being able to control her blush.

"I don't think her problem can be solved with sleep, Ducky," Tony shot back with a knowing grin. Emma rammed her elbow backward into Tony's gut which made him gasp and groan. Dr. Reid looked at them completely baffled by their behavior. He had either missed Tony's comment or he hadn't understood Tony's meaning.

"Are you sure this guy's a genius profiler?" Tony whispered in Emma's ear, which earned him another elbow ram from Emma. She smiled in superiority when the phone stopped ringing.

"What?" Gibbs' voice echoed through the bullpen on speakerphone. The annoyance in his tone was evident. Things must not have been going very well with the two BAU agents. Emma could see her father easily butting heads with them.

Dr. Reid looked curiously at the phone like he was trying to profile Gibbs over the phone. Emma wanted to warn him not to do that to her father. Her father wouldn't stand for any of that bullshit, as he would put it. At least not when it came to him. He would use it for a case, but there was no better way to know someone that by actually getting to know them, according to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Well, that and his famous gut.

"Jethro!" Ducky leaned toward the phone and shouted into the phone louder than he necessary.

"I'm not quite deaf yet, Duck," Gibbs retorted.

Emma covered a chuckle with her hand as Tony gently pulled Ducky back from the phone before motioning for the older man to speak. "Quite sorry. I can never remember which one of these contraptions you have to shout into."

"That would be mine," Emma said pointing toward her desk in the corner.

Ducky's brow furrowed as he glanced at Emma's desk and then back at McGee's desk. "Ah! I assumed we were at your desk but this appears to be Timothy…"

"Duck!" Gibbs barked through the phone "Today?"

Dr. Reid jumped at Gibb's bark causing Emma to glance over at him and smile. Her father had a way of startling people like that, whether he intended to or not.

"Right! Right," Ducky said nodding his head, despite Gibbs being unable to see him. "Does the name Natalie Johnson mean anything to you?"

There was a momentary pause. Ducky stood there with his arms folded across his chest waiting for a response. Tony, Emma, and Reid exchange confused looks. They hadn't heard of her before and Gibbs response was similar. "No, should it?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky cocked his head. "I stumbled upon a photograph with her name written on the back lodged in our deceased's throat, quite literally tell you. Mr. Palmer tripped me and..."

"Ducky," Gibbs groaned.

Ducky smiled and immediately smiled, not in the least bit offended by Gibbs. He then leaned over to Emma and whispered that he would tell her the story later. Emma smiled. Dr. Reid looked at them quizzically, trying to figure out what had been said during the exchange.

"Get the photograph to Abby for.."

This time it was Ducky's turn to interrupt. "It's already being processed as we speak, Jethro." Ducky was one of the few people who could get away with interrupting Gibbs and live to tell the tale.

"DiNozzo."

"Yes, Boss!" Tony said, suddenly standing at attention, despite the fact that Gibbs wasn't there to see him doing so. Emma chuckled. Tony was a lot of talk, but he fell right in line like the rest of them, even though he was the senior agent. Even Dr. Reid appeared amused by the change in Tony's demeanor.

"Go pay Natalie Johnson a visit."

Silence. Tony winced. "Uh-boss, do you know how many Natalie Johnson's there are in the D.C. area. I'm guessing quite a few." Emma pulled up a white pages directory on McGee's computer and searched Natalie Johnson.

Gibbs growled, "DiNozzo, I don't care how many there are. I want you to meet with her. Now. And take Emma and the doctor with you when you do."

"Yes, boss. Right on it, boss." Gibbs ended the call and Tony winced again, unsure of how he was going to get this done. He was senior agent. It was his ass on the line if they couldn't get this figured out. He muttered a few ripe obscenities under his breath before he looked over Emma's shoulder at the results. "97. 97 results? Dammit. Can this get any worse?"

Dr. Reid moved closer to them. He stepped behind Emma and glanced at the computer screen over her shoulder. He accidentally got a whiff of her hair. Something coconut-smelling which he liked. Reid shook his head and focused.

"I believe it can," Dr. Reid said to Tony who was staring at him curiously. "That list only includes those with the name Natalie Johnson now. It doesn't include those whose maiden names were Johnson, or changed names from Johnson, or are only listed by husbands name, or are unlisted, or choose to go by an initial, or moved away. We have no evidence proving that she even is from D.C. The only thing we have to go off is the fact that the body which had her picture shoved its throat was found in the area"

"Thanks for clarifying," Tony growled sarcastically. "Because as if it wasn't already hard already, you somehow made it worse, Dr. Reid.

Dr. Reid's brow furrowed. "You asked if it could get any worse. I was just making an honest analysis."

Tony sighed. " Yeah, okay. So how many Natalie Johnson's are we talking then?"

Reid mused to himself as he ran the numbers in his head. "I can't say for certain, but I'd say that number at a minimum triples," Reid responded as he shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

Tony kicked McGee's desk causing his pen holder to fall to the floor. He didn't make any effort to pick the strewn pens up. Instead, he just stole the computer mouse from Emma and began scrolling through the Natalie Johnsons.

This was going to suck. Emma chewed her lip trying to think of a way they could possibly make this easier than calling every Natalie Johnson in the D.C. area, before going to the country, the continent, the world.

"We need to narrow this down," Emma muttered. "There's got to be a way to narrow this down." She then looked at Ducky curiously. "Hey Ducky, was there anything peculiar about the girl in the picture, who I'm assuming is Natalie, that would make her more identifiable?"

Ducky stood there almost gobsmacked. "I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. Of course. Of course!"

"Ducky!" DiNozzo and Emma groaned simultaneously.

Ducky stopped his rambling and smiled. "Well, now that I've actually been able to think about it, yes. Yes, there was something peculiar about her. The woman in the picture had two different colored irises."

"Heterochromia iridum," Dr. Reid mused aloud before explaining things rather rapidly. "Did you know that heterochromia is determined by the production, delivery, and concentration of melanin. It can be inherited, or caused by genetic mosaicism, chimerism, disease, or injury. It usually occurs in humans and certain breeds of dogs and cats."

Tony's jaw dropped, but Emma gave his jaw a tap so that it went back up. Tony then smacked Emma's hand. "I mean, I missed most of that, but damn. That was like straight out of an encyclopedia or something."

"It probably was," Emma laughed. "He has an eidetic memory."

"Okay, but back to the hetty indigo thing, is it rare?" Tony asked.

"Heterochromia iridum, Tony," Ducky chuckled.

"Bless you." Emma rolled her eyes. Tony always played that joke when people said big words.

But Ducky just smiled. "Well, it's rare enough that it might prove useful."

Tony's eyes widened as he started running toward the elevator. "To Abby's lab!" he shouted.

Emma and Reid glanced at each other before they both took off in a sprint after Tony, not wanting to have to wait for a different elevator. Ducky chuckled watching the two younger agents chasing Tony before he returned to autopsy.

The elevator doors were just about to close by Emma managed to leap onto the elevator. Reid ran rather awkwardly behind Emma, but once he got on the elevator, he had trouble stopping his momentum. Instead, he plowed into Emma, pushing her to the back wall of the elevator.

Emma gasped and looked up at Reid as his body was pressed against hers. She gently laid her hands on his arms to keep herself from falling. For a moment, their eyes locked. They both smiled at each other. But Tony wasn't having any of it, so he intervened and spread them apart. "Leave room for the Holy Spirit," Tony said rather seriously.

Reid flushed and Emma just started to laugh. Tony pressed the button to take them to Abby's lab. Emma managed to get control of her laughter, but she couldn't suppress a smile on her face. 'Tony, I didn't think you were religious," Emma said. "Where did you learn that?"

Tony shrugged. "One of the boarding schools I was expelled from had a few Catholic nuns teaching. It was a regular thing they said during school dances."

Emma smirked. "Were you expelled because you didn't leave room for the Holy Spirit?"

Tony smirked. "I don't kiss and tell."

"Yes, you do," Emma scoffed. Her love life consisted of hearing of Tony's love life, because hers was nonexistent. Not that she enjoyed hearing it, but by this point, she was used to being able to ignore him for the most part when he talked about it.

Tony just stood there smirking as the elevator doors opened. He was the first one off the elevator. Emma moved to get off but Reid tapped her shoulder. She turned toward him. Dr. Reid shoved his hands in his pockets. "That wasn't why he was expelled," he whispered.

Emma smiled. "Yeah, I figured. But someone's gotta feed Tony's ego if we're gonna survive the next few hours." Poor guy didn't quite know how to handle Tony yet whereas she had experience in that area. Reid smiled and nodded his head. Emma gently patted his arm.

"Holy Spirit!" Tony shouted.

"I don't fully understand this Holy Spirit thing," Reid whispered. "I mean, if we go with the biblical explanation, the Holy Spirit is effectively everywhere. So, technically speaking, the Holy Spirit can fit in every space no matter how small and then the Holy Spirit is already between us so there would be no need to make room for him."

Emma threw her head back and laughed. "You're overthinking it," she explained. "Tony's just trying to say that we're physically too close to each other and that we need to spread apart." Emma blushed trying to explain to Dr. Reid that they were too close.

"Oh," Dr. Reid's eyes went wide as he took a huge step away from Emma. But Tony was already there to take matters into his own hands. He wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, placing himself between them, walking them toward Abby's lab.

Emma rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if Tony considered himself the Holy Spirit...the Tony Spirit. Leave room for the Tony Spirit. Emma snickered to herself at the thought.

The three of them walked into Abby's lab only to have Abby quickly shoo them away. "Out. Out. Out. My baby just french-fried." She pointed back to her computer system.

"It wasn't me," Emma said holding her hands up defensively, having before accidentally unplugged a cord in the lab. Thankfully, she had lived to tell the tale.

"No, it was Palmer," Abby groaned. "He spilled his coffee on my baby."

Tony chuckled. "Autopsy Gremlin is on a roll today."

Abby shot him a disgusted look.

This time it was Tony who put his hands up defensively. He also knew what it was like to be on Abby's bad side, albeit temporarily. "Not that it's a good thing. Bad, Palmer. Bad. If you want I'll march right down to autopsy and…" Tony was cut off by Abby enveloping him in a hug.

"That will do, Tony. That will do," Abby said, patting his back.

"So, you want me to go down to autopsy?" Tony asked questioningly.

"No, but it's the thought that counts." Abby smiled at Tony, who appeared to be thankful that he didn't have to march down to autopsy. He didn't need another distraction right now otherwise Gibbs would have his head on a platter.

"Hug for you," Abby said moving onto Emma. Emma smiled and hugged Abby back.

Abby then turned toward Dr. Reid. He smiled awkwardly. But that didn't deter Abby. "And a hug for you." She wrapped her arms around Reid, who stood there as still as stone. Emma laughed at the unsure expression on his face and Abby released him.

"Okay, now seriously, you need to get out. I have miracles to work. If I manage to accomplish this, I'll be one step closer to canonization." Abby did the sign of the cross over her head and heart before she literally pushed them out of her lab.

Once Tony, Emma, and Reid were out, she locked the door to her lab. Reid looked curiously back toward the lab. "Is she always like that?"

"Like what exactly? Eccentric? Yeah, but it's Abby and we love her anyway."

Reid nodded his head in understanding. "I think she'd get along with one of my colleagues. Really well, in fact."

Emma didn't get a chance to respond because Tony began ranting aloud. "Well, now what? I don't know how to do all that computer gobbly-gook and McGoo's gone. We don't have a lab with the fancy tech. Gibbs is gonna kill me, bring me back to life, and kill me again."

"I-uh-I have an idea," Dr. Reid said shoving his hands into his pockets and squinting his eyes in contemplation.

"Well, spit it out, Jimmy Neutron."

Reid's brow furrowed. "Jimmy Neutron?"

"I'll explain later," Emma offered. "What's your idea, Dr. Reid?"

"Remember that colleague I mentioned?" Without waiting for a response, Dr. Reid pulled his cell phone from his pocket and started to dial. "I think is a job for Penelope Garcia, Technical Analyst for the BAU."

Author's Note: We get to talk to Garcia next chapter! Anybody got any ideas for a Garcia greeting for Reid? Lol. It's fun to write Tony, Emma, and Reid. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. It wasn't as fluffy as the last one, but it got us further along in the story. Thanks to everyone who has read/followed/favorited/reviewed...it means a lot to me. It's because of YOU that this story keeps going. :)


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